Newborn

Maybe you're one of those people who are optimistic enough to enjoy your barbecue party after your wallet has been stolen. Or maybe you're the person who's putting on a smile when your computer is beyond repair before you have backup of the files. Some of us can remain positive even when we're knee-deep in troubled waters.  

Except for childbirth, or the first one year of newborn. That's what Kerry Hudson wrote about in her beautiful memoir Newborn, a journey towards her parenthood. With countless trauma in her early years of poverty, Kerry Hudson never knew if her mother would be coming downstairs. And then her mother stopped eating, lying listlessly in bed. And that, the fate decided, would mean growing up between foster families and homeless hostels.

As tough as Kerry Hudson would be, she couldn't have imagined the challenge after seeing a second blush of pink next to the control line on a strip. The positive pregnancy test made her tense. Her anxiety soared. She and her partner watched YouTube videos for weeks practising how to install the car seat and did so expertly like a soldier reassembling a rifle in a blindfold. With little information about how the coronavirus might affect pregnant women, she dared not leave the house. Even she was convinced to go out once a day – mask on, hands deep in the pockets – she did not touch anything.  

The best description of her early weeks of caring for the child is the fourth trimester because, in reality, the baby should still be inside the mom's belly.